info on "Affordable outfitters"

I am looking at going to Texas to hunt at a place called "affordable outfitters". they are located near Bryson, and I was hoping to get some insight from someone who knows them or has been there. thanks.

ive never heard of them, not saying they are not good just havent seen them around here. good luck.

i just checked out there web site. there prices seem good. also showing some awesome deer! welcome to the forum!

If you hunt there, make sure and leave a reveiw in the outfitters section of this forum.. good or bad. They seem to be new to the business, but could be a good low cost hunt. Deer density in that area is not very high, but some good bucks come from that region. Make sure and ask for several references that are paying hunters, not friends or relatives. And get a hunter success rate for the past several years.

Good luck!

Well said and excellent advice!

This seems like good advice, but what if it's their first or second year? Everybody has to start somewhere, I guess it's at your own risk in that situation.

I would much rather go with a known high quality outfitter like Lone Star Trail Outfitters. www.lonestartrailoutfitters.com/
Look at this hunt 7Mag is offering there.
http://www.texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/2299649/Buck_and_doe_hunt#Post2299649

I have been on a spring turkey hunt with these guys about 2 years ago. It is the type of hunt were they drop you in a blind and come back and get you in a little bit. They have two cabins. The cabin I was in was OK not the ritz but hey it was hunting. Everything on the phone was true except his yardage from the feeder. (Said it was in shotgun range end up needing my rilfe) I did get a turkey over my weekend hunt and would go back but his turkey hunts are over feeders and I have found that calling in birds is a little more exciting. Send me a PM if I can help.

My husband has booked two hunts with them and is considering making a booking for this fall for a deer hunt. He went with friends on the first hunt and our two boys and I joined him on the second one. He was quite satisfied with the results of the first hunt; each of them killed at least one boar each. The cabin he described from the first hunt sounded rather rustic and minimalist, so I was quite surprised when we stayed in a really nice cabin. It was fully furnished, quite clean, included a full kitchen, satellite tv, and phone service (since our cells would not work out there). I think their regular cabins were full but we were quite happy to be in such "luxury" when we were expecting something else. We did not see any turkeys the first day, but early the next morning, we were not disappointed. We were on a different property that day - I guess they must have several locations for hunting. This is not really a guide service, I am not sure if they offer that or if it is extra, but since my husband is an experienced hunter, that was not a problem. I enjoyed myself and the boys were thrilled to see all the wildlife so close up.

Just got back from deer hunt with Affordable Outfitters in Bryson, Tx. Paid $1200 for three days. Did"t see a deer. Not one.

I Know of two outfitter here in San Angelo area that have given their hunters the option of coming back later in the year for another hunt, our weather has been hot and windy and deer movement has not been great yet. A good outfitter will stand behind their product and atleast show you something worth shooting. I would look for a new place to hunt, good luck

Is this a HF place? If not, the deer hunting in that area is not very good IMO.

Dang I should be on the lookout for something like that for Audrey next year.

I hope you did not waste you money on this outfitter. Their stories kept changing and they were not sticking to all their lies. I paid them well and guide was tipped well even though he kept hinting for tips. A group of us went on their so called Hog Hunt because they said they had hundreds of hogs and we could shoot as many as we wanted. They never picked us up in the mornings and would not let us do anything during the day. They said they were too busy to take us anywhere but the 3 of us were the only clients there. They only took us out two times at 3 1/2 hours each. None of us saw any hogs the first night and only one of us saw hogs the second night. One guy got his hog and the guide would not even assist the cleaning by holding a flash light. The guide just hinting he wanted his tip so he could leave and said no pig was worth cleaning. We were going to clean the pig since the guide and owner took our small number of ducks we shot and said they would clean them and get them back to us. They never brought our ducks back. They took our credit card number at the begining and kept hinting and even left notes reminding us to tip them. They did not see us off and owner/guide never checked on us and would not even return our calls. We were willing to clean our ducks so we could have at least something to take home. But he would not return our calls. We were always friendly and easy to adjust to there changes in plans. We wanted to be fair and pay extra for any work or effort they put forth. The owner's son was shooting they ducks before they would even let us walk up on the ponds. I have ran my own guided deer hunts and understand the business and really gave them the benefit of any doubt. We wanted to experience Texas and did not get treated well. I was surprised by very minimal animals. We were there for 4 days and the only hog saw on their properties was pinned up in the outfitter's front yard of his home. I did see 3 small fawn smaller then a dog and they really exaggerated the number of all their ducks, hogs, deer and turkey. I do understand that hunting can't be good all the time, but an outfitter should let you hunt when he had promised. The cabins did have furnished kitchens, hot water, ruining toilet and TV. I think they might have hogs, but I never saw one in the four days we were there. I also did not see any bucks, coyotes or cats. But they did have corn in the feeders for them if they would show up. I do hope "Affordable Outfitters" can make a go of their business and I hope things get better for them. I hope they start treating clients better or they will loose their funding, but maybe they will keep taking money from the trusting hunters that are out there. I can try to justify the hunt but not through all the lies and false promises they provided. Wish you all the best!

check out celebrity ranch in Mingus,tx, it is north of stephenvilel about 40 minutes. Awesome place, people, ammenities, and DEER. prices are great too, all inclusive, one price. ask if you have any questions.

http://www.celebrityranch.com/page/page/2315889.htm

KVP, tips for what? I always thought a person earned a nice tip. Those folks will not survive if they treat everyone like that. jack

No way in hell would I pay them after not seeing a deer for three days.

I went on a duck hunt once and the entire group didn't shot once. Everyone else payed but me. Told him I'd never pay for a duck hunt where we never had a chance at ducks.

Edit, this was not with "Affordable Outfitters".

Great ranch!!! 5-1 buck to doe ratio. No shortage of bucks

Not a great ranch- Me and my husband just completed a hog- predator hunt with this outfitter. First let me say that we are very avid hunters, we have hunted all over the world including Africa so we are well aware that hunting is hunting. When speaking with the owner James it all seemed on the up and up and that we would have a great hunt. We arrived to the so called Ranch at 12pm and got settled in our so called house instead of the cabin in which James said I would just love, much nicer for the ladies. It was an ok house except that I wouldn't take a shower, mold all over the shower curtain and water had such a bad odor to it if you showered in it there is no way in hell you would have any game come need you, cow [censored] would have smelt better. Perhaps that was the key since cows where everywhere including eating out of the feeders for the game, couldn't use the fridge or freezer so packed with old froozen ducks and whatever else. Well our guide(the nieghbor and a young age of 73) showed up at 4:00 and within 15 minutes wanted the balance of the hunt ot be payed. He said that we would go to our stands at 5:30- he picked us up took us to our seperate stands- he then returned at 10:00pm and returned us to the house. We didn't see any hogs, it was so dark and the feeders where so far away it wouldn't have mattered anyway. Our guide asked us what time we would like to go out in the morning and where we would like to go???? We would know this because????????? So we decided 5:00am we would go back out- off to different stands- no luck again- just seen many many birds - cows and very very small deer(3 IN TOTAL- MY DOG WAS BIGGER). But then I thought I was going to get a shot at the many many predators we where told about around 6am - oh wait it was the family pet dogs. Well to sum up this trip because I could go on and on- What James told us- is now where near the truth- the so called guides listed on his site consists of Terry - 73 year nieghbor - Wyatt is his 15 year old son- James the owner- we never met or seen (going threw a divorce) -The hogs feed during the day - that is the biggest lie- half the feeders worked -(and thats if they have corn for the feeders)) cows and pets roam everywhere- signs on the walls it's an insult not to tip your guide. really bad housing- no game- no predators- telling us one hog was shot here 4 years ago - one here 3 years ago- where would you like to hunt- and so on. There was no guide or animals besides household pets and many birds, Very very disappointing. TOTAL RIP OFF

Lizzy,
Which Ranch are you referring to? Celeberity or Affordable Oufitters?? A little confused on your post. Thanks.

DONT WAIST YOUR MONEY!!! I should start off by letting you know that my family has ran a big game outfitting service in Colorado for many generations and we realize that no hunt has a 100% sucess rate. That being said we were very very dissapointed in this outfitter. My husband, mom, dad and I all went on a hog hunt. The man was very pleasant on the phone and answered all questions we had before we showed up..then he ran our cards for the remaining balance on the hunt. Things sure changed after that!!! His help-Norman-was young, pleasant and very knowledgable. They were both hard on vehicles(i think we all ended up with whiplash lol) and the owner was very unprofessional!! We went on 2 evening hunts and 2 morning hunts- we left early and didnt even finish our hunt due to the fact that we were so disappointed. My mom is the only one that saw a hog and it was way too small to shoot. No one else seen any game. Before we planned the trip we received many pictures of large hogs from the owners game cams. On the last morning hunt my husband hadnt seen any game so before Norman came back to get him from the stand he walked around the large feeder(automatically kicks out corn)and there were absolutely no hog prints on the ground and the corn had been there so long it has molded..I would have thought a good guide would have realized that the hogs werent going to that feeder before taking a paying hunter!! We were told by the owner that late September is the best time to hunt hogs-turns out the only reason he wanted us to come at this time was so that we could scout out any big bucks- the first thing he always asked when picking us up from a stand was if we saw any bucks, then he would ask about hogs. Norman told us that they had a group of deer hunters coming the next week. The cabin we were in was clean but smelled horrible-turns out it was the water. None of us took a shower the whole time we were there because of the horrible smelling water. We couldnt even brush our teeth and had to buy bottled water to make coffee. Please remember that I am by no means a prissy girl- I have grown up in Colorado and love the outdoors but I also was under the impression that we would be able to shower. lol When we returned from our last morning hunt there was a note reminding us to tip Norman-which we did VERY well but that was the last straw. We were all tired of the disrespect and BS we had been hearing so we decided to pack up and head home early. The owner didnt even have the balls to come see us off..after he got our money we never seen him again..he did call to make sure we had tiped Norman tho(two days after we left)!! Again DONT WAIST YOUR MONEY!!!!!!! We have been on several hog hunts in Texas after this one and have been much happier!! Again please realize that we know that no hunt can be guaranteed but the owner of this "business"was a very good salesman!! lol

Whatever you do, DO NOT book a hunt with this outfitter!!!! We were lied to, treated poorly and the owner did not honor what he agreed to over the phone. Here is a detailed account of our hunt:
We discussed a 2 ½ day hog hunt with James on the phone and he was quite the salesman. He told us that he had just had a cancellation and that we were going to get a great deal. He said that his daughter was getting married, but he had plenty of help to take care of us if we booked. He said there were all kinds of hogs, so many that there was no limit to how many we could shoot. He also said “You guys won’t believe this cabin you are staying in.” My Dad tells James to pick the date that will work best for him, because Dad doesn’t want the hunt to interfere with the wedding. James says that the wedding will not be a problem and that we will be well taken care of. Like fools, we believed him. He said he had guides available to transport us and also to clean and quarter the hogs for us. He also said we would have room in the freezer to store our hogs until we left. So, we booked the hunt and paid the deposit. James was in very frequent phone contact before we arrived at the ranch. That would soon change. We arrived at 4 pm March 15th 2013 at the address listed on the website. We called James and he told us that he couldn’t meet us because he had to go to a wedding rehearsal and that we needed to call Terry, his guide. Terry proceeded to give us directions like we lived there. “Go 3 bridges and then find the gate that looks like it’s locked, but it isn’t”, he says. Needless to say, we couldn’t find the place and had to call Terry back. He proceeds to get short with us and tells us we will need to wait an hour until he gets his chores done. After a second set of directions, we finally find the cabin using blind luck. Well, he was right about one thing. We could not believe the cabin! It had a strong stench of sewage, the kitchen was filthy, and the bathroom had black mold growing on multiple walls. There were multiple notes all over the cabin reminding us to tip the guides, and to also tip Wyatt for all his work laying out “extra” corn on some of the fields. We agree that we can put up with the conditions if we get to shoot some hogs. Terry finally shows up an hour later and tells us that he has to have the rest of the money right now. He left and informed us that the owners 15 year son, Wyatt, would take us to the stands in the morning. Wyatt showed up and took my Dad to his stand. The door into the small ground blind had fallen off and was laying off to the side. The door was only about 3 foot high so my 66 year old Dad had to crawl into the blind. It’s a good thing he’s in pretty good shape! Once in the blind, Dad finds that the chair is broken and is falling apart. He also does not have a shooting lane to the feeding area because there is a big tree in the way. Next, I am taken to a “brush blind” to hunt a field. The problem is, the wind is blowing right towards the hog’s bedding area in the woods. No way was I going to see any hogs. Dad and I see nothing and return to the nasty smelling outhouse (cabin) to spend the afternoon. We give Wyatt a tip for laying out the “extra” corn for us.
Wyatt then tells us that he has to go to the wedding on Saturday night and that there will not be anyone to take us out hunting. We will have to walk to the same stands that we hunted earlier that morning, bad wind and all. We mentioned that they had agreed to clean and quarter the hogs for us, but he said he wouldn’t be back in time and we would have to do it ourselves. We were willing to dress and quarter the hogs, but we opened the freezer and it is full of rank smelling meat. There is no room for our hogs if we do shoot any. We ask him to clean out some room in the freezer, and he says he can’t because he doesn’t have anyone to give the meat to. Dad and I are getting pissed and can’t believe what we are hearing. We ask what he expects us to do, because it is 94 degrees outside and we need to take care of the meat. He says that we need to clean the hogs and then run into town and grab ice to fill the body cavities and leave them overnight. We then inspect the tools that we will be using to clean the hogs. The knives and saws were rusty, and still had meat and bone all over them. They hadn’t even been cleaned off!! Finally, we meet James for the first and only time during our hunt. He arrives, because we are pissed, and finally makes room in the freezer. Dad tells James that we probably should not have booked the hunt because James is busy with the wedding. Dad also reminds James that he was the one who picked the date to book, not us. James says, “It’s not a problem.” I’m sure for him it wasn’t. He had already taken all of our money. After we press him, he sets us up with a different guide, Don, to help us clean the hogs at dark after our hunt. Well, the wind is still wrong so we don’t see a thing. We walk back to the cabin (outhouse) and our “new” guide Don is there and asks if we are going back out to hunt. He tells us that the hogs aren’t moving at all during the daylight and we have to hunt them with flashlights at night. We tell him that we were not aware that we were going to be night hunting, but we might consider doing it. We let Don know that we are not happy and are just considering leaving early and skipping our 2 scheduled hunts on Sunday. Don then contacts James and drops his night idea and changes plans. Don tells us to be ready at 6:30 the next morning and James and Wyatt would come take us to the hunting stands.
Well, we decide to stay for our Sunday hunts and are ready to go by 6:30 am. At 6:30 no one shows up. By 7:00 am still no one has shown up. The sun is starting to come up now so we are running out of time. Finally, Wyatt shows up at 7:15 as it is getting light out. He says his alarm didn’t go off. He doesn’t apologize or anything. James is nowhere to be found. We get into the stands after the sun has already come up and we don’t see a thing. And the blinds are set up in such a way that neither one of us has a clear shot at the feeder area. I’m not terribly picky, but we would have to open the door and lean out the door of the blind to get a clear shot. We ask Wyatt where James is and he informs us that James is out of town spending the day with his girlfriend in Fort Worth. We spend the rest of the afternoon sitting outside because we can’t stand the stench inside the cabin. The dirt outside by the cabin bathroom is wet and flies are swarming all around it. We can only guess that it’s the sewage bubbling up from underground. Wyatt picks us up for the last hunting session on Sunday night, and he had finally set us up in some decent spots with the wind in the right direction. We never saw a thing. Not a single hog during any of our hunting sessions. We never heard any more from James.
The lack of game really wasn’t the worse thing about the hunt. That happens sometimes, and it can be hard to control. It was the lies, the poor treatment, the terrible facilities, and lack of concern about our hunt that really burned us up. I was speechless at how we were treated. Affordable Outfitter is a disgrace to the outfitter business and will be out of business soon if they continue like this. BEWARE!!

Sounds like "affordable" is a bad outfitter


Just to be clear yall aren't talking about celebrity, yall are talking about "afford able outfitters"

Amazing how many first time posters contribute to this thread.

That would be correct, sir. Affordable Outfitter near Bryson, TX

Kinda weird these are all first time posters...

Well, I sure wish I had read some of these other reviews before we booked the hunt. I guess I need to be more diligent about my research.......

Does it matter how many posts they have? Why get on here and lie your [censored] off? I know them and their business and it's built on being shady.

Just always seems odd to me that many first post are made in reference to an outfitter thread. Doesn't mean that they are lying, but at the same time, it is difficult for me to base my assessment on the new posters.

I sure wish my story wasn't true. It wasn't a good time to drive 22 hours round trip, spend a decent sum of money and experience what we did. If enough posters (even us first timers) tell a similar story, it might give someone pause to reconsider where they hunt, or get the Outfitter to clean up their act.

Location . A lot of there guys posting aren't Texas based... They are just hunting Texas.

I think you all are missing the point. Their hunts were so bad they felt the need to get on here for the first time and warn us. Thanks. I think I would be more worried if a bunch of new people got on here for the first time and posted how great it was. That would be a big red flag.

Something that cracks me up is when outfitters offer you a free return hunt after you just wasted 2 or 3 days at their facility the first time. Especially if you have driven 5 hours, 11 hours or even just a couple hours to get there. They do that, in my opinion, mostly knowing that you won't be back. Now I'm sure there are the ones who do it even when you had a decent hunt but maybe just missed a real chance at your quarry or bad weather ruined the hunt because they are quality businesses but when it's an experience like this he knows there isn't a snowballs chance in hell you are driving back down from Nebraska to do that again.

I would imagine most of the 1st time posters googled Affordable Outfitters and it brought them to this thread.

I agree 100% and when new posters get on to defend an outfitter, I am truly skeptical. Sometimes with the new posters on threads like this, I wonder if it is one person with a vendetta and making multiple accounts to make their case. Mods would catch them eventually I guess.

Must be a lot of people searching the sorry outfitters to find these threads. I appreciate all the new members and their input and if it sounded like I don't appreciate and pay attention to some based on post count, I apologize. It is the multiple first posters on any topic during a short period that make me wonder. Hard to imagine that many folks are mad at the same outfitter and are "googling" them at the same time

Hope that made more sense

If you go back to page 1 and look you'll see the new posters postings were made months apart. Some in 2011 and also in 2012 and the newer one made this year in 2013.

Well see...now you have to go and make me look like an unobservant ace...and I already did a pretty good job of it. That will teach me to make a casual statement based on a post rather than the thread

But I see it more when they jump on to defend an outfitter.

The young guide actually had the nerve to say, "Well, if you book again maybe we can get you some hogs." Um, no I won't book again even if it was free.....I would try another outfitter if I drive 11 hours. Next time I will ask members of this forum for input before I book anything.

I've never hunted at Affordable Outfitters. I saw they placed an ad in the Dallas Morning News today and their guide Darrell was the contact for the # provided within the ad. We communicated by text msgs and I didn't pick up on any BS in the text msgs. I saw that they're offering $150 hunts per day right now, no limits on # of hogs killed so that's why I contacted them. I was thinking of taking my daughter out, now I'm not sure from these posts. I can understand issues that are aged but it looks like the same issues have been happening for some time. I'd be looking to hunt hogs only.

What a joke of a outfit.First off James waited till we were in Dallas to inform us we needed varmint lights to hunt the hogs, why wait till we are 2 hours away to tell us this when we have talked for 3 weeks straight about the hunt, We were booked for hog and dove hunts.we got there at about noon on monday, first thing we did was leave and go to walmart and get bug spray because the cabin was full of spiders and scorpions, not a big deal, I could have lived with that if the hunting didnt suck. We went out hog hunting monday evening with the hunting guide Terry, guide my [censored], he was a taxi service and smelled like he had not showered in a week. We stayed out till 2 am over the feeders and all I saw was the fattest raccoon known to man. Terry comes to pick us up and we ask what time to dove hunt in the morning, he informs us its only a half mile walk he didnt need to take us there so we were on our own.we got up at 5 am and headed out and got set up and seen no doves at all and this was after James gave us the big sell on Monday that they had went dove hunting this weekend and limited out in a few hours. So tuesday evening I text james on the way to hog hunting and asked hey do you have another place to dove hunt the field he had sent us to had no food there for the doves. his reply was well I guess its too hot. So when we got to our hog stands I walked around and saw no hog tracks at all, so thats telling me that there are none there. The feeder kicks on at 8 and here come the deer, raccoons and armadillos and no hogs till 2 am. By then we had enough, we packed up and left Wednesday morning. we didnt receive a text or phone call wondering what happened, so by that happening we knew that we were not the first ones to leave and he really didnt give a damn other than getting your money.

What I think is interesting is the number of people that take a crap shoot on a day hunt.

"affordable" is my biggest red flag. Then cheap day hunting is a known entity to anyone who's ever been paying attention.

Attention out of state hunters: Day hunting for anything but migratory birds is virtually ALWAYS a ripoff.

Day hunting is not outfitting. Learn the difference.

Or not, and keep wasting your valuable time and "affordable" bucks.

Not true. I have some "AFFORDABLE" hunts that are not a rip off. Do your research before you book.. that's the bottom line.

What I said was virtually always a ripoff was $150/day day hunts. You know, the ones where you can shoot anything legal that walks out. C'mon. You know what I meant.

You got that kind of hunt? Cause that's what I was talking about. The place described in those posts on this thread are exactly that. And worth a lot less than 150/day.

If you are providing that kind of "affordable" hunting, you won't have much game either for very long. Enjoy it while it lasts.

I guess I need to be more specific. My "red flag" with "affordable" is the fact that they lead with it. Even put it in their name.

That throws up a red flag for me.

We ALL have affordable hunts to offer. But when you lead with that... it throws up a red flag for me. Just me, not saying it has to for you or anyone else...

I am only posting on this because I noticed all the references to first time posters. I would not want anyone considering Affordable Outfitters to discount the very valid complaints referenced in this thread. They are horrible and deceitful. I booked a hunt with them this past December to take my younger brother on his first deer hunt and they so grossly misrepresented their services, quarters and quality of hunting that I considered suing them on principal.

The "Affordable" was a warning and which is why I did my due diligence, including asking James about some of the bad reviews and he had a great story. I then asked for references, which he provided me with quite a few, though I could only reach about 6 of them. I don't know if they were set ups or not, but I got comfortable and booked it.

Hopefully others doing their due diligence will find enough of these reviews to realize they would be better off hunting elsewhere.

This is going to be a lengthy story but stick with it and realize that the owner of affordable outfitter is a con artist at work.

I contacted James Rae in regards to a Father/Son hunt for late December of this year (2014). We had everything going good and booked until I said I needed another day for the down deposit. He said this was fine until the following day around 11am he sent a text with “?”. I text him back and said I needed him to call to discuss some things before I placed the deposit. He called and I proceeded to ask about negative reviews I have read online, which there are TONS of. He claimed they were other ranchers that did not like him and bashed him for his low prices. He then proceeded to send HUNDREDS of pictures of animals that he has seen/killed. He also sent a list of 15-20 people as references that could vouch for his hunts. I did not buy his BS and called him out on it. I said that I understand they could be lying, but if that’s true I would like to make a guarantee with the hunt. Our hunt was for two people and a total of $1,400 for a total of ten animals. (2 does, 2 hogs, 1 cull buck per person) Simple math shows that he is charging $140 per animal. My proposal was that we would still come but only pay for what we killed. I told him I was not comfortable with paying all the money and then having ZERO guarantee of killing nothing, epically with all the bad reviews he has.
THIS IS WHERE IT GETS GOOD.
After our exchange of thoughts and ideas he sends me a text saying that someone booked the dates I was looking for. He then sends me this long text from someone who is talking him up and singing his praises about how good the lease is and how much fun they had last year. Within the text was the man’s name, 16 digit credit card number, name on the card, address, phone number, and the rest of the text said bill me any time. I have pictures of this and still have the text messages on my phone.
So I decide to give this guy a call. Upon calling him I learned he had not been to the ranch in over a year and certainly did not book a hunt for this December. The phone call started off with me acting like it was a reference call just to see if the guy had a good time. He told me he had a good time with his buddy but did not even see one animal. Said the service was terrible and he would never go back. Then I told him about me having his information and how I got it. The man was shocked and did not believe me, but once I read him his own credit card information he was really pissed.
That evening I waited for James to give me a call about booking another hunt. When he called I played dumb and asked about someone booking over my hunt. He proceeded to play the story just as if it actually happened. I finally had enough of it and told him what I had done and how much of a low life he really was. He immediately hung up on me and txt me “lost your call will call back”.
Well today “the day after all of this” he will not answer my calls and only txt back insulting me. The man is truly a crook out there to get people’s money and screw you over. I will be filing this report with the FBB and hopefully the other guy will cancel that credit card.

Never had any experice with them, but after reading this post I decided to check out their website. That's a huge red flag on its own. The way things are written and spelled is very amateur and horribly written. Any guide service worth their salt will at least have a professionally done, well written website.

We were taken as well, Owner will take your money and talk the place up but once you show you will not see him. Old guide ( actually neighbor ) smells something terrible and smokes right at your feeder. I was lucky to kill to small hogs with one shot but they were the only hogs seen on the entire trip... They pressure you about tipping.... We were told we could predator hunt during the day but once we paid we were meet with a nice notice that walking around and predator hunting was not allowed. This outfit is just looking for as many hunters as they can pass through the place... The few stands that do have hogs regularly showing up are just for the owners son.....lodging is lousy stands are old.... I got to one location to bow hunt and the stand was 90 yards from the feeder... Then to top it off I left a 200 dollar bag and a 300 dollar pair of boots there, called and was told they didn't see them..... My 10 cents be cautious of any one that offers unlimited hogs......if your traveling from north like me check into some places in Oklahoma.... No night hunting but I have hunted three places and killed more than one hog each time

I TRY TO STEER AWAY FROM PLACES AND THINGS THAT USE THE PREMISES OF "AFFORDABLE" AS THEIR #1 SELLING POINT. USUALLY MEANS ITS CRAP AND I FIRMLY BELIEVE IN YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.

+1. Truer words were never spoken, S-8. When well-meaning guys post here on the forum that they're looking for an affordable hunt "that won't cost an arm and a leg", they're sadly setting themselves up for disappointment 90% of the time.

I am sorry so many of you were taken by these fools.

I would like to say this about guided hunting. First, check lots of references. Second, talk to your outfitter as much as you can and ask all the questions you can think of. You are investing your money for a reason, RESULTS. Third, to get the most out of a guided hunt tell the outfitter exactly what your looking for to a T.

I like doing 2 day hunts on just about everything we offer. I will say if a guide can not put you on game the first day and get you a opportunity of a shot in 2 days, they are not near the outfitter they think they are. It's the guides job to know where the game are and put the client on them. You pay for quality!

In the last 3 years, I have had 1 person not kill out in 2 days. Bless that young mans heart he missed a good buck 2 different times at less than 100 yards. Most clients kill out first day on low and high fence hunts. If your looking for a quality relaxed hunt for the company, you, and family give me a call. Let's Hunt !

Howdy, all. I am a first time poster but an avid hunter. I mainly hunt hogs due to the fact you can hunt them year-round and they are challenging. I usually hunt public land but at times, I'll try outfitters and ranchers to have a better chance especially when it's hot and the hogs are primarily nocturnal. I wanted to reply to this thread not really in defense of affordable outfitters but rather just to outline my experience:

I have been there twice. The first time was a two day hunt and I was alone. First of all, James is personable and seemed to know what he was talking about. He was always responsive and was in my opinion, honest about what to expect. I got to Bryson and called him and he guided me to the cabin I was staying in. it was decent. Not the ritz but certainly accommodating. I didn't encounter any stench. My first night hunt was difficult due to the position of the blind. it was a full moon hunt and the blind faced the moon as it rose. It was very difficult to see. I did see two pigs but didn't take a shot due to the inability to clearly see. i don't like wounding animals. Wyatt was my guide and even though he is young, he knows his stuff. The next night, I was taken to a tree stand overlooking a feeder. There was a ton of fresh hog tracks. Before the moon came up, a large boar came up behind the stand and rooted around for a few minutes. I had no shot again. The wind was swirling and even though i used scent spray, it knew something was up, gave a warning grunt and split. I had to end that hunt early due to a migraine but I did see a pig. So, that first trip was good even though i didn't bag a hog.

James felt bad about the busted hunt due to my migraine so he offered a deep discount to come up again. I went up the first weekend in May 2015 with my dad. My dad is a rookie hunter. They put us up in a mobile home which again, wasn't the ritz but again, just fine for shacking up between hunts. Our first night Wyatt took us to two ground blinds. Good, fresh activity and fresh corn. I ended up getting a small boar this first night. My dad struck out but that was largely due to the really full moon and that we didn't hunt too late - the hogs were still light sensitive and were coming out later. The next night we were taken to two different spots. My dad saw a bobcat and some deer but again, the hogs eluded him. I on the other hand took a 180b boar! So, two nights, two pigs.

I can honestly say that I felt that James and Wyatt worked hard to get us on the pigs. it was a tricky time due to it being the first few days of the full moon. They drove us all over, were on time and in some cases actually pushed us to be ready earlier as to maximize our chances. So, for my two trips with these guys, I had good experiences. I am going up again in early June and will post again to report on the conditions. With it being hotter, the pigs will likely be more predictable - they will be mainly nocturnal and near water sources.

Sorry to hear folks had bad experiences with these guys but it seems that if that was the case, they've really turned things around.

Sorry but based on the experience I had with this "outfitter", I couldn't bear for the last post in the thread to be a positive one. With all due respect to the prior poster who I am glad had a positive experience, my experience mirrored almost exactly the same as others in terms of the difference between what was represented vs actually delivered.

You might be able to turn service around, but I am not sure you can fix integrity and I cannot imagine how anyone with integrity could have represented what we were sold then delivered what we actually received.

When I read threads like this, it's the exact reason I created Texas Outfitters Network website with guide/outfitter reviews. Hunters need a place that has objective reviews and the more the better to keep someone from losing hard earned money.

I researched and listed 1000 outfitters in Texas and hope, through user reviews, to identify both the good and the bad ones.
There is an Affordable Outfitter in Graham in the list. Don't know if it's the same.

If you have a review please go add one at http://texasoutfittersnetwork.com - click on Submit Review, then search, then click Write Review.

If the outfitter isn't listed, you can add it or contact me and I'll add it. We need to weed out these guys that are taking people's money.

Thanks.

I had a horrible experience with them also. The worst I've ever experienced. I started a thread for review back in January.

Public Service Announcement for Affordable Outfitters.

I was looking for a quick deer/hog combo hunt for early 2018. Found Affordable Outfitters online. Texted them asking a few questions and whether they had room. They did and I looked online for some reviews. After looking around, could not find any truly positive review and most were negative, so I texted them that I would not book with them due to negative reviews. The person responded, "LOL" Then they proceeded to "review bomb" my phone over and over and over with their own "positive" reviews. I asked them to stop and they finally did with the final text..."Hey pard, I thought you liked to read, so I sent some TRUE reviews for you to look at." So glad I did not do business with this person. Not sure what the upside is to aggressiveness towards potential clients, but not going to convince me.

You be the judge.

http://www.affordableoutfitter.com/

File under "Should have done basic research online." To echo just about everyone's comments regarding Affordable Outfitters in Bryson/Jacksboro, YOU WILL GET TAKEN/DEFRAUDED if you book here. Was part of a group of 4 hunters last weekend 3/25/17-3/26/17. Almost everything written above about these guys happened to us. Lots of texts, lots of cam pictures, lots of promises of hogs, tip "upfront" for pre-guide work, pay up front right away and then NOT A SIGN of a PIG. As very avid/rabid hunters (2 of our group of four have over 60 years of hunting on multiple continents) we decided to hunt 6PM to 6AM and 6PM to 2AM the second night. No pig tracks, no pig sign. Nada. Really fat raccoons and one anorexic doe were the only things we saw the whole 2 1/2 days. Really wish I did my homework before I drove 10 hours to this place. Seriously wondering what legal recourse I have. I'm sure it's zero but please let this post be a warning to anyone looking to book here. And to echo the dirty/unsanitary conditions of the lodge, I can't say it was due to the uncleanliness of the lodge but one of my group got a double infection of pink eye from the trip. If you book here after reading this or the other warnings, expect to be taken for a ride. Having hunted in every corner of the great State of Texas over a dozen or so trips, I have never seen an outfit so poorly represent an otherwise incredible part of our country to be in as an outdoorsman.

You dodged a bullet here.

Attention Anyone thinking of booking with this Outfitter. If you are talking to James Rae near or in Bryson Texas,pay attention: Friend and I booked a 3 day hog hunt with this guy for June 16-18, 2017. We received countless pictures of hogs everywhere. Needless to say, we were excited. The excitement stopped right there. A few days before we arrived, we received texts informing us that we "should" and I mean "should" be ready to give the guide $50 upfront on arrival before anything else. Ok, we thought, no biggie. We get to Bryson a little earlier than expected and contact our "guide" who meets us at little gas station/store. He then proceeds to drive us to our "lodge". We get unpacked and then are informed that because its hot, 98+ degrees, the hogs aren't moving during the day so we will be hunting at night. He tells us he will be back at 6 that afternoon to pick us up and leaves. At 6:30, he shows up and tells us we will be hunting from 7-12. We question this timing as the pictures we had received has shown the hogs on the feeders between 10 pm and 7 am. Hunting 7-12 effectively removes any chance of seeing pigs but we said, what the heck. We get to our "blinds". My friends is a 30 year old Winnebago painted camo. His feeder was nearly 100 yards away with two very pale green motion activated lights. Not the 60 yards we were told they would be with nice bright lights. He saw absolutely nothing the whole night. I got to my blind, standard wooden deer blind and my feeder was also 100 yards away down a dirt road with only 1 shooting lane. I saw nothing. The other two guys we hunted with also saw nothing. If the pigs are there after midnight, why did they pick us up before midnight??? We tell our "guide" we have no problem staying all night and hunting but are effectively told, "no". We get back to the lodge and are informed that he will check out the other ranches and look for alternative spots for tomorrow. We hear nothing from him until 3 pm. We are then told he will be there to get us at 7 and our new spots are 23 miles away. Shows up at 7:30. Takes 30 minutes to the blinds. We are "allowed" to stay until 1 am that night because he has to pick the other two guys up first. Blinds are closer this time but my blind has a faulty pale light which stays on the whole time giving me no chance to shoot. At 9:45, the rancher who owns the land begins to fire an AR15 wildly with this drunk friends. Again, no chance for hogs. Here is the bottom line. The Outfitter flat out lied. We never saw him nor talked to him during our hunt. He visited the other hunters but not us. We weren't allowed to hunt when the pigs were out. The blinds are crappy. We paid for 3 days to hunt and spent a total of 10 hours out of a possible 48 hours actually hunting and during the time with no chance to see anything. Complete and total scam and waste of money. Do NOT and I repeat, DO NOT book a hunt with this outfitter. Money was the only thing that they were interested in. Promised a great hunt at an affordable price, we got a horrible hunt. $495 bucks for 10 hours hunting.

So just returned from a 3 day trophy buck bow hunt. Got there on Tuesday after getting numerous pictures of game cams showing big bucks out during daylight hours. Upon getting there, the whole time they never put me in a blind where there was pics of daylight hour bucks. I was put in 2 blinds the first one on day one sitting there I hear 2 rifle shots about 150 yards away and them someone come walking through my area looking for a blood trail. I told my guide and was told they owned that land and to not worry about it. When I asked to be pit in the blind from the pic I got from the owner, his son, which was my guide told me no. Big waisted time and money.

Damn 6 years of negative reviews and this guy is still in business?

One of my well respected turkey hunting clients drove from Mississippi with 4 buddies and hunted here opening weekend of bow season this year. Not 1 person laid eyes on a deer and they were all way disappointed. He said he did Kill a hog however he paid for a big buck. Never even saw a doe. Just thought I would share. He has since booked a deer hunt with me for 3 week of November. I don't even offer deer hunts but this is a great client and definitely one that affordable Outfitters should not have done that to.

I went on a hog hunt with this outfitter a little while back. Hunted 2 days and nights and never saw a hog. He demanded my balance of the payoff as soon as I got there then didn't care what happened after that. I asked for part of my money back after my snipe hunt was over and he refused saying that if he refunded people money he wouldn't be in business anymore. And now everyone knows why, he is a crook and a scam artist and he doesn't care how your hunt goes after he gets your money. So if you are thinking about going to hunt with this guy, DON"T. It is not worth your time or money. Save your money and frustrations and go hunt with a good outfitter who cares about his hunters.

It was the worst of the worst. I booked the hunt in April 2017, gave the down payment, was shown pictures of feeders and deer. I asked if I could get my brother on a management buck, and the owner said "we can try and do that." A week before the hunt, we communicated and he texted me pictures of feeders with deer all over them and nice, above-ground blinds. So we head out and drive 1400 miles to get there. When we got there, I was informed we were not allowed to take a buck because the season was over (which he should have told me when I booked it). As we sat down to pay for the trip, which he asked for in cash, the price had increased $50 each. What were we to do, turn around and go home? Again, I had been planning this for 8 months. We were also told to tip the guide at the beginning of the hunt for the work he supposedly had already done. In spite of these red flags, with all the terrific pictures, we were still looking forward to a meat hunt. We pull up to a field and were dropped off in a makeshift, plywood box, not anything like the pictures of the blinds he sent me. We were told to not leave the blind until the guide picked us up. I have been a hunter all my life, and after 3 days of not seeing any deer, pig, nothing, I decided to look at the feeder. I know what fresh track looks like, and I didn't see anything. I felt like I was duped and scammed. 48 hours of driving to be ripped off. Please do not use this outfitter if you are looking for a Texas hunt. I've hunted Texas numerous times and had some great hunts there, but this outfit is a scam. Smoke and mirrors.

This sounds just like our hunt. My son booked with "Affordable Outfitters" for March 26,27,28 2018. A 3 day hunt. First night 6ish to midnight, son saw a coon and a deer at the feeder. I saw nothing. Second night 6ish to midnight, son was in camper and all he seen was a deer. I was in woods on a lane(very narrow shot to feeder)blind. I saw a total of two coons. We hunted 2 nights on a 3 day hunt. Never did see any of the hogs sent to my son on his phone. This was my first experience with an outfitter and my last.A great big rip off!!

I need to add more to my previous post about this rip-off artist at "affordable outfitters" My son and myself were about 2 hours away and we were informed we had to pay up front with cash. After our experience with them, I understood why. You cannot stop payment on cash.We were pressured to tip guide up front for his hard work(?). Note to clean cabin before we left. Outside of cabin smelled like sewage. After our second and last night hunt of a 3 day hunt, Wyatt told us he had ran over a sow and 6 piglets, and said we could have the piglets. Back at cabin he laid piglets out and took a picture of my son and me like we had killed the little things. This place is a scam supreme!!

I had a great time with two good hunters Lucas Hickman and Jared Barns/ the hog slayer.We hunted 2 nights and bullets was flying and Hogs was dying it was a great experience for me and my son accompanying them and Jared and Lucas have Hunted with affordable Outfitters for years and have always had a pleasurable experience and my friend Jared has said he has been to a lot of places and it's the best place he's ever been for hunting and nice lodging also he has made many YouTube videos their to back this he is known as the hog slayer. and Lucas has harvested multiple Hogs deer turkey and ducks booking several hunts over several years and has a awesome hunting photo gallery as a result of his Harvest making good memories and having a good time with the hunt and the lodging and the staff

How old were your children when you started hunting? My son is now 6 and it seems to me early. Although I see that he is interested, he asks to take him on a hunt. I think to start by showing you how to shoot at targets and go to nature. Recently I bought a new optics for myself https://www.atncorp.com/smart-hd-optics I'll just try how to shoot it

i read most of this whole thread. i am somewhat new here but not a troll or anything despite my low post count.

i booked with them for an upcoming hunt, they already charged me $150 deposit but after reading this i decided to cancel. i called and asked for a refund but they said they will only do it if they book over my slot, and based on their practices outlined in this thread i am not expecting any of that to happen. but i also don't think it's worth paying the full amount and driving 3 hours to waste 3 days on, either.

We call that “cutting your losses “ and it was a smart thing to do.

Why in the heck was “the guide tipped well” for what you just described?

Ran in to some fellow turkey hunters eating lunch in Graham Tuesday, I asked if thad any luck that morning, guys told me they heard lots of bird but none came in. I asked them why they didn't go after them, He said he was hunting with "affordable outfitters" and that their guide told him that the turkeys on this place had been called with no luck by "professional callers" and to sit still in a blind and wait for them to come to you. They also said the guide advised them against decoys because all they would do is spook the turkeys, instructed them that Rio's were the smartest of all birds and to be silent. These guys booked and drove all the way in from Georgia, without apparently reading any reviews of the outfitter. I don't know this guy personally, but having been a guide for 20+ years its hard to watch honest guys get screwed over and over by these clowns.